New School Board staffing plan cuts 525 positions

Published: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 at 10:14 p.m.

Last Modified: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 at 10:14 p.m.

The School Board on Tuesday passed Superintendent of Schools George Tomyn's revised 2013-14 staffing plan, setting in motion a series of budget workshops leading to a final vote on Sept. 10.

Tomyn's latest plan calls for 525 fewer positions — 91 district-level and 434 school-level — than his original staffing plan passed in April. The district laid off 261 employees, including all 160 first-year teachers, in May.

To fill many of the vacant teaching positions, the district plans to hire 100 full-time certified substitutes. Those substitutes, who must have a bachelor's degree, are paid $100 per day — $18,000 annually — with no health benefits.

School Board member Nancy Stacy made a motion to remove all full-time substitutes from the staffing plan and turn them into regular full-time teaching positions with benefits. Her motion died on the floor.

Stacy said she learned that many of the positions removed from the plan since April were already vacant, calling it "the district's slush fund" — believing that there were funds attached to the vacant positions.

Tomyn and staff explained how the staffing plan is established and how the budget process works.

Once funding is set from the state, the district then has to adjust the staffing plan based on funding. After seeing that the district funds would fall $29 million short of what was needed, the district revised its staffing plan that was approved Tuesday. Besides the 261 layoffs, Tomyn eliminated 264 wish-list positions.

Tomyn pointed out the approved staffing plan may be tweaked during the next few months. Once the 2012-13 year ends on Sunday, the district then can close out its books, which takes three weeks.

The board will receive Tomyn's recommended budget in late July. The board will then hold at least two budget work sessions in August before a final vote will be held on Sept. 10.

Board member Bobby James also asked the board to consider adding back one of three West Port High assistant principals removed from the staffing plan. West Port is the county's largest school.

James said that West Port is a mega-school, with a population of 2,400 students. He said he believed West Port needs the third assistant principal to manage so many students. Stacy voted against the motion, stating she believes that money could be used to put more teachers in the classroom.

An hour before that vote, Marion Education Association's Chris Altobello, the teachers' union president, also asked the board to reconsider removing the third assistant principal at West Port, as well as at Forest and Lake Weir high schools. The board asked that the third assistant principal at those schools be eliminated to save $200,000.

In this case, Altobello said teacher performance raises are based on classroom observations. He said schools with enrollments approaching 2,000 students need a third principal to help conduct those evaluations.

Altobello said the district's mission statement of "Leading the State in Raising Student Performance" should be changed to "You Get What You Pay For."

Altobello confronted Stacy about her idea last Thursday that employees should clean the school. Stacy said she meant students, not employees, could clean their classroom before they leave for the day.

The board also told a former magnet school student at the meeting that it is no longer considering requiring magnet students to pay fees. School Board Chairman Ron Crawford said state law prohibits the district from charging fees.

During the public comment part of the meeting, a dozen people spoke to the board, including Lynne Colley, a finalist for 2009 Golden Apple teacher of the year.

Colley said she supports the ability of Deputy Superintendent Rick Lankford, and by extension the superintendent. However, she wondered how the board could have allowed finances to get to rock bottom.

She noted that Jim Yancey, who retired as superintendent last November, warned the public for years about how desperate funding was getting. Federal stimulus dollars saved the district in 2009 and 2010, and reserve funding saved the district in 2011 and 2012. All four years, those funding sources totaled $49 million and saved the employees.

"Mr. Yancey warned (us) in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, and now the train is running out of tracks," Colley said, adding the board should have slowed the train down long ago.

The comment led Crawford to raise his voice and fire back, stating Colley's opinion was wrong. That comment drew laughter and hisses. Crawford said Yancey is the one who recommended the budgets that wiped out the reserve funds. He said Yancey said he needed the money for his programs and the budget was approved.

Crawford told Colley that he wasn't trying to make it personal. He said that the state sets the millage and issues the funding. They should complain to the Legislature, Crawford said.

Nancy Noonan, co-founder of Marions United for Public Education, spoke to the board, telling Crawford that the board eventually passed Yancey's budgets. She said the board needs to take responsibility.

Tomyn noted that since 2006-07, the district has reduced district-level staff by 23 percent, district administration by 14 percent and instructional units by 10 percent.

Contact Joe Callahan at 867-4113 and at joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him Twitter @JoeOcalaNews.

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